General:Todd Howard: Map Making

This is a developer diary for The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon. The diary was originally posted to the old elderscrolls.com website on 3 June 2003.

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Todd Howard, Executive Producer

There's always a good feeling when you buy a new game, open the box, and stuff comes flying out. A nice juicy manual, jewel cases rattling, reg cards, trinkets, figures, anything. I love it all. I want to pick up game boxes that rattle and shake because they're full of stuff. I always attempt to flip through a game's manual while driving back from the game store. I hope for long red lights so I can catch further glimpses of my latest purchase's goodness.

But nothing gets me more excited than a map.

Oh, if a game comes with a map, I'm one satisfied customer. Since the early days of Ultima, maps have become my game buddies. I like to hang them nicely near my monitor. There's something about having a physical object in your hands that feels like it's part of this other world, that you are that person in the game, finding your way among the hills. My cloth Ultima maps are worn from use, and they set the standard for maps to come.

But maps aren't just for RPGs. My favorite useful maps have to be from Red Baron. This game wins for best stuff in a box. Super juicy spiral-bound manual, with full color prints of the planes. And six, yes six, big heavy paper maps of the battle areas. On the hardest level, you had to fly your plane using these maps and looking for objects on the ground to spot your location. I was a World War 1 flying ace, doing it the right way.

When we made Redguard, back in 1998, I decided we needed a map for the game. We had a nice island that could be done, and I knew this was something that would make players happy and feel more a part of the world. So we made this old looking heavy paper map that felt very authentic. But when it came back from the printers, it looked, well, new. Too new. So I set mine on fire. And kicked it around the parking lot. Now it looked authentic. Miraculously, I convinced our President to let me set them all on fire. Yup, we put all the folded maps on a few giant palettes, took a blow torch, and burned the facing edge of all the maps. I cannot claim total responsibility, since the company had used the same process on inserts for Arena a few years previously. Anyway, if you bought an early copy of Redguard, you have an official "burned by Bethesda" map. We did get a few complaints from boxes smelling like fire and the ashes from the map getting on the CDs.

Obviously when it came to Morrowind, we had to have a map, and I assume if you're reading this, you have it. It's big, it's colorful, and it's unbelievably detailed (not the game, the map…but I think the game is too). Every time I look at the map I like to pretend it's one of those maps you get at Disneyland that shows your where the rides are, but crazy demons have taken over. Really, look at it again, Ald-Ruhn is Space Mountain.

Half the reason we make expansion packs is so we can make more maps. Because we have the best cartographer in the world working for us, Mike Wagner. This guy makes maps that could be in Where's Waldo. Mike plays the game, while looking at the editor, and hand draws every rock and tree. He's absolutely insane. He sees a tree in the game, he draws it. There are thousands of them. I think we're cool for hand placing every rock and tree in our game, but the guy who comes by later and then draws them all, well, he's my hero.

Not only does Mike create all our boxes, manuals, and websites, he draws every rock and tree in our game! He puts little Xs on the map or other secrets to show you where cool things are. With Bloodmoon, I think it's our best map. The game is just the right size for a map that can show tons of detail, more so than Tribunal's map, which could only show a city, because so much of it was underground.

After Mike has drawn the map, it's scanned into the computer, so it can be colored. You'd think after you drew every single tree and rock, you may skimp on the coloring step. You'd be wrong. My hero Mike, colors every single tree individually. Then he paints the grass layer across the map, followed by the snow. Finally the map is given to the design team, who decides on any changes, and decides on what should be labeled on the map. This goes through a few revisions. We want to be careful and label areas of interest without spoiling quests. Ultimately, even though the map rules, we never want the player to rely on it in game. It can help, but it can never be the solution to an in-game problem.

So have a look at the map for Bloodmoon, we hope it puts you further into the world of The Elder Scrolls, and shows you some cool places to visit. Oh, and don't forget to send Mike a nice thank you note.